


Eros

by lyrah99



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Aaron Hotchner - Freeform, Blood and Gore, Death, F/M, Kidnapping, Mentions of Rape, Murder Mystery, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-05-29 15:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19402927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyrah99/pseuds/lyrah99
Summary: A gruesome murder in a small mountain town looks like it's about to be repeated. They call in the BAU, but will they be able to find the Unsub before they kill again?





	1. The Body in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Includes graphic descriptions of blood and gore

I've always loved the mountain air. There was something about driving through the trees on the old highway that made my mind wander. As a teenager, I would drive across the mountains on trips with my friends, leaving our small town behind. The summer air after high school was full of our music blasting against the wind, and our laughter, still excited about what our futures would bring. High school was over. None of us were to know that my friend, Jennifer Kable, who sat in the passenger seat, waving her hand out the window, would disappear and her boyfriend, Daniel, would be found brutally murdered the next day. We were only an hour away from our day-site at the lake, but twelve hours later, they were both gone.  
No one knew what had happened. We had spent the night at the lake, swimming and playing games with each other, each of us drinking illegally, but we didn’t mention that part when we were questioned. There were six people. Me and my current boyfriend at the time, Kevin, Jen and Daniel, and finally Sue and Torren, the last couple. It took an hour and a half to get to the lake and it took the same time to return. We all returned- people at the general store confirmed it. We all had made it back from our summer high, ready to get to work and save money for our colleges. But the next day, Jen and Daniel were missing.  
They searched all the popular hangouts us kids had back in the day. They still exist now. Nothing changes in Leweys. Except for the population.  
Everyone who grows up in Lewisville calls the town Leweys. No one knows why except that it was a tradition. We all hunted for sport, some more than others. I wasn’t a huge fan, but if someone asked me to trap a rabbit or gut a fish, I could do it.  
Daniel was found on the shore, lying face down in the shallow water. He was found the next morning by a park officer doing patrols around the lake. They knew us kids liked to party there. Someone had shot him in the side of the head. At first glance, it could have been a suicide, but the gun was gone, and so was Jen. They searched, but she was never found. Her bag was missing, including her license and cards. She had disappeared without a trace, and some people began to speculate.  
Had Daniel not been treating her right? Was she messed up in the head and decided to run away, killing her boyfriend in the process? The funeral came and went, everyone, mourning the young man’s life, but in the back of the mind in every griever, there remained the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Kable.  
Until now.  
I had never expected to hear the radio call that morning, reporting that a body had been found in the middle of the forest.  
The years had been kind to me. Time had been kind enough to let me get married and have a divorce, to watch my infant boy grow into an energetic three-year-old. It had been kind, granting me a job in the town’s law enforcement, my only dream since that dreadful summer day. I was lucky in my contentment, not really feeling the need to leave my small town. Kevin left me, but he stayed on the other side of town. Sue married and left, and Torren went across the world doing god-knows-what. He sends me an occasional postcard now and then. Maybe he sent them because it was nice to know someone would remember him if he ever returned.  
I had always hoped Jennifer had shot Daniel. Cruel, I know, but there was no speculation of hope concerning Daniel. He died, and we would all remember him as the college boy who was murdered. Jennifer went missing. I hoped she was the one who shot him because that gave me a chance to hope she was still alive. It erased the scary idea of a stranger killing both of them and having her last moments be full of pain and terror. In that intimate moment of dying, would you rather be killed by a friend or a stranger? Would the betrayal double the pain?  
I feared the worst driving up that mountain road, my car radio turned down, filling my mind with white noise. Who would we find?  
I pulled up, the jeep lurching to a stop, and I walked out, locking the police vehicle behind me. Several cars surrounded the scene- a crime scene unit and the park rangers who had found the body. I spotted the Sheriff’s car on the sidelines as well.  
“Who is it?” I asked, stepping under the crime scene tape and approached the sheriff, who was talking with one of our two detectives, an old law enforcement veteran.  
“It’s…. hard to tell…” The old man turned to me, his green eyes tired.  
I walked closer, minding where I stepped until the former husk of a human being entered my sight.  
“Oh my god!” I cried out, sharply gasping out, and the Sheriff hurried over to hold my arm, steadying me.  
It wasn't the first body I had seen. That had been a child who had drowned in a summer ten years ago.  
But this, this was barely a human body. I wanted to throw up, but the Sheriff’s hands helped me stay afloat and not fall to the ground. I didn’t want to be the one to contaminate the crime scene.  
It was a woman, that you could tell. But with the decomposition of the body, she had to have died over fifteen years ago. She was mostly a skeleton, but some skin and matter still remained on her bones. Her ribcage was split open, along with the rest of her body; A long cut went up from her pelvis to the top of her chest. She had been gutted like a deer.  
“H-how was she found?” Unable to look at the body anymore, I turned to a park ranger.  
“A group of college kids came to the campground to look for ‘buried treasure’. We keep trying to tell them that it’s just a rumor some rich guy made on his deathbed, but we get a few every year. They disrupt wildlife and often get hurt climbing where they shouldn’t. This group happened to find something else entirely.” She pointed to a ranger jeep where three young adults were huddled together, all of them male. One was bawling his eyes out.  
“We’ll need to interview them all once they calm down. Did they dig anywhere else?”  
“Yeah, a few other holes were found in the area, but no other bodies.”  
I turned to the unit, “Make sure we search the area and scan for more bodies. I don’t want to leave any stone unturned, got it?” They all respond in unison, some mere grumbles.  
Sheriff Hollar approached me, hand on my shoulder. He was old enough to be my father.  
“I want you to take point and oversee the investigation. Detective Welham will be working directly under you, got it?” He waited for my response.  
“Wait, what?”  
He glanced back at the body in disgust, “I trust you, Lynn, it’s why you’re my deputy.”  
He walked away and got back into his car, leaving me at the crime scene, wondering if he truly did trust me to solve the case, or if he just felt he was too old to deal with this kind of case.  
I didn’t know how serious the hunt for the killer would be until the next morning, when another body was found.


	2. Old Friends

I woke up in the early morning from a call about a new body. Images of the woman appeared back into my mind. Did I dream of her, or was I just remembering the horrible scene I witnessed yesterday?  
Never had Leweys been the home of something so horrible. There had been deaths in the past, and a murder five years ago, but it was rare in the small town. The only thing that could come close to the body was Daniel being found at the lake. Everyone knew about Daniel’s death. All the kids my age grew up into adults, taking the somber event with them, but the younger kids- they passed it down like a scary campfire story and Jen and Daniel became the local urban legend among them. Kids from the lake towns cherished the story like it was their only outlet to action and suspense in their small-town life. Some even visited Leweys just to see my old high school and the diner as if they were going to find out what happened to Jennifer or see a shrine of some sort about Daniel. If they ever had the balls to ask me about it, I would just tell them to read a book or two and take a hike.  
I pinned my deputy badge onto my uniform and rolled up my sleeves, revealing a scar on my arm I had in a hiking accident a while back. Back when I was young and more reckless. I pulled up my long blonde hair into a ponytail and tucked it through the whole in my plain green cap. It wasn’t a standard issue hat, but the sheriff let it slide.  
I grabbed an energy bar and shoved it into my pockets before heading towards the door, but I tripped before exiting my small house.  
Underneath my legs was a small pile of dinosaurs and stuffed animals. Sighing, I swept them up into my arms and dumped them onto my couch, deciding to save the mess for my next weekend with Paul. I’d have to teach that boy a thing or two about cleaning up after his messes. I only hoped Kevin wasn’t living in a landmine of plastic dinosaurs, drawing tools, and playthings, since he was the one who had full custody over our son.  
The drive back to the site was silent, and I tried to keep my mind from wandering to Paul. Being a mother made me feel differently about cases I oversaw. To think someone’s child could turn into that…I shivered and turned up the heat, knowing it wouldn’t help warm me against the chills I got.  
Pulling up to the site in the early morning added a whole new atmosphere to the case. The facts about what had happened were colder than the morning air that made my chest feel tighter than usual. A fog hovered among the pine trees, but I didn’t give in to the childish thoughts of phantoms or the ghost of Daniel Webber.  
“A new body? Is it… the same?” I asked the coroner, the same man who had hovered over the woman yesterday. I tried not looking over his shoulder, but he beckoned me to approach.  
I would have to see it one or another if I were to truly work on the case.  
“Don’t worry, this one’s definitely a skeleton now. But yes, same M.O., opened all the way up from the torso.”  
I walked closer to the body and found what he had said was true. The skeleton was still partially covered in dirt and stained from years exposed to the mountain soil. The rib cage was open like a set of gates, the bones reaching up to the sky while their hands remained to their side.  
“Their sex? Will we able to identify them through dental records?”  
“I can’t be certain, depending on if they had any mouth work done back in their day, or if the records are even there. But I can tell you that this skeleton likely belonged to an adult female, maybe around their twenties,” He gestured at the position of the pelvis and the opening that could have been used in childbirth.  
“This case just got more complicated,” I sighed, “Thanks. Has the other victim been identified yet?”  
He looked at me in a new regard, eyes wide, like he had just remembered a secret, one that I wasn’t in on.  
“You should probably go to the morgue yourself. It’s better you hear it from my colleague. They’ll have more information for you.”  
I looked at him skeptically, but left him, deciding to wait on until the morgue. The way he looked at me made me feel imbalanced. I didn’t like it one bit.  
The sun began rising on my drive and I arrived at the morgue at a decent time, not wanting to waste anymore seconds. Now I had two victims, same M.O. and I did not want to find a third.  
“Give me to it straight June,” I walked into the room, the body on one table and another table empty, ready to receive the other victim.  
An old woman looked up from her clipboard and smiled at me, her tight wrinkled pink lips curled up, but her eyes saddened.  
“My dense husband of mine sent you to me with nothing, didn’t he?”  
I nodded and she brought up one of the lab chairs.  
“Would you take a seat sweetie?”  
“Why…?” I questioned, not liking where the conversation had turned.  
I asked people to sit when I had bad news to tell them. When I had to inform a family member about a death.  
“Sit.” She wasn’t the sheriff of Lewisville, but I followed her order just the same.  
“It’s Jen dear. We finally found her after all these years.”  
“Oh God,” I gasped. I glad that my ass was in the seat.  
She’d been here… the whole time…when I wished she had run off and escaped the murder of Daniel…when I pretended that she was in college under a fake name, living her life somewhere on the west coast- She was here the whole time. She had been killed and/or tortured and who knows what, then buried in the mountains that overlooked our small town. I cried over her for the first time in years and I looked at the decomposing body, no longer a stranger to the soul it had carried.  
June rested her ungloved hand on my back, rubbing it in circles, just like my mother had done to me in that summer, eighteen years ago.  
“Are you going to be ok sweetie?” She offered me a glass of water, but I didn’t feel like drinking anything.  
“I will be,” I stood and took a deep breath. “I’ll find who did this. Make sure her identity remains a secret, alright? No one else not on the case can know, alright June?”  
The old woman nodded and returned to her clipboard.  
“Here’s all the information I got off of her. You aren’t going to try and solve this all by yourself honey? Sheriff Hollar and his partners back in the day could never find out who killed Daniel- “  
“I won’t be alone- at least, I hope. This case might be serial and it’s time this town asks for outside help on this case. Maybe we’ll actually receive it now that more bodies are connected.”  
I look at Jennifer one last time. I’ll have to inform her mother.  
With heavy shoulders and drying tears, I walked out of the decrepitly clean morgue, forming up a summary and proposition for help. 

“We got a case,” a blonde agent walked out of her office and called over to the agents in the BAU.  
“What is it? Where are we going now?” David Rossi spoke up once they entered the debriefing room and seated himself at the table.  
“Lewisville, Montana. They’ve just discovered two bodies with the same M.O, and it seems the younger one was connected to murder case that was never solved.”  
“How long ago was it?” Dr. Spencer Reid asked, his hands already pushed together in deep thought.  
“The murder case was eighteen years ago and involved a missing person. That missing person is one of the bodies that turned up.”  
“Are you sure this is the best case we could be working on?” The leader of the team spoke up. Hotch wasn’t doubting her ability to choose, but they had to make sure it was the right one. The most pressing one with the most imminent threat.  
“From the age difference between victims, it seems like they were killed the same number of years apart. If the killer is a local in the small town, it’s likely he’s heard about it by now. Plus, this year is around the time he’s most likely to kill again if he hasn’t already.”  
“Alright, good work. Wheels up in 30,” Hotch stated, initiating the start of a new case. They had a four-hour flight ahead of them.


	3. The Arrival

It surprisingly wasn’t hard asking Sheriff Hollar for help on the case. I always thought, that with a small town, the enforcement would be less willing to take outside help, and I thought I would have had to trade in some of my days off in order to get the FBI in. But he nodded, scratching his graying goatee.  
“If you think it’s what the case needs, then I trust you. I gave you this case, remember?” He looked up at me and suddenly I felt like a schoolgirl, standing there, afraid of him rejecting my plea.  
Not that I considered it a plea at the time. We’d just never seen anything like it in Leweys. Of course he would want help. He wasn’t doing anything to help me really solve the case- he was just letting me have access to resources that I would then use to solve it.  
“I know Sheriff. Thank you. I’ll send in the paperwork now.” I turned and walked out of the office, still feeling his eyes on me.  
I breathed out a sigh of relief when the BAU spokesperson called to tell me they would come right away. I needed new eyes on the case, someone outside of Leweys, and who had never heard of the urban legend my case had suddenly become attached to. Not that Jennifer’s identity had been revealed yet. Only the coroner couple and I knew. People had still seen the body though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit the papers the next day.  
“Couldn’t handle it yourself, could yah?” Officer Nash spoke up, seeing me at my desk.  
“Shouldn’t your ass be somewhere else right now? On your patrol?” I looked at him with disdain.  
“Been noticing my ass lately?”  
I didn’t respond.  
“Just got off my shift, brought our weekly guest,” he pointed at old Mr. Rouge, our town drunk.  
“What’d he do now?” I watched the man be escorted to our cells; one he had become very acquainted with over the past few months.  
“Pissed in Georgie’s fountain.”  
“Ugh, god. Well, finish your paperwork and stop watching me while I work,” I glared at him, then returned to my case file, preparing all the facts and notes to start an info board.  
He continued to watch me until he figured I wasn’t going to entertain him anymore and then moved on. I knew he wanted to get into my pants, but he would have to travel the world, find religion twice, and become a different man before I would ever consider that happening.  
I stood and made my way to a small conference/break room. This is where the BAU would set up shop. I wheeled in a large whiteboard and started posting a timeline, from the estimated year the first victim was killed, the crime scene at the lake eighteen years ago, and then finally the discovery of the bodies. The lack of information was daunting.  
Four hours until the BAU would land.  
I went to the last places we assumed Jennifer and Daniel had been. Georgie’s diner, with its a cracking large fountain in the front, was still stuck in a strange mix of 80’s and the classic diner style. They had been seen having breakfast at the diner the day we had come back from the lake. Then they disappeared. Daniel’s car had been recovered at the lake. I had gone over the facts of the cold case three times after discovering it was Jen.  
Daniel’s car was found with him at the lake and there had been signs of a struggle. Scrapes were on his hands, as if he had tried stopping his fall to the ground. He had been hit before being killed- the shooter possibly had to fight him to overcome him. Daniel had played football.  
He had been shot after hitting on the ground, looking up at his attacker. Why hadn’t the killer just shot him immediately? Why get into a struggle if they could have just shot him from a distance?  
Three hours until they arrived. I returned to the station, added some more notes to the file.  
Two and a half-hours. The waiting was making me antsy, and I couldn’t sit still. I drove out to look at the burial site one more time.  
No more bodies had been found, but I looked at the trees and the distance from the road to the site. It hadn’t been a short trek. Whoever dumped the bodies had to have carried them the whole way, so they were strong.  
Two hours. I started the drive to the airport in my patrol Hummer, another officer following my car. It took an hour and a half to get to the closest airport, this one closer to the city up north. It wasn’t a large runway and most people used the more commercialized one to the south, but this one had been a faster route.  
We arrived, twenty minutes before their jet was scheduled to arrive. I and Officer Yates, a middle-aged married man who was fine with taking orders, waited in the building next to the runway. I drank the first of many cups of coffee that would help me get through the case.  
The humming of a plane started to grow and we both exited the building to watch the jet land, its wheels barely making a scuff mark on the runway, smoothly sliding into port.  
“Imagine having to ride that beauty every time you worked a case,” Yates spoke up and whistled wistfully.  
“You’d have to spend a lot of time away from your kids, did you think of that?” I turned to him.  
He laughed and rubbed his neck, “maybe a day or two wouldn’t be too bad.”  
I thought of his two teenagers and chuckled.  
The airport workers had finished hooking up the staircase to the jet and the passenger door finally opened, and the BAU finally walked out into the fresh Montana air.  
We walked closer and I observed the different members of the team, each having their own FBI look to them.  
A darker-skinned man walked out and approached us first, cleanly shaven and bald, his features sharp. A younger man followed him, talking quietly to him, almost nonstop, short brown hair with a little wave to it.  
“Welcome to the Treasure State,” I said, watching them pick up their bags.  
“Glad to be here,” an older man said, though I could tell they all were ready to get straight to the case. No matter if they were called to the Bahamas or the rural south, any case that needed them wasn’t a cause to celebrate.  
“I’m SSA Hotchner, Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. This is Agent Rossi…” Hotchner walked up to us and started introducing his team. They all shook our hands, except for the younger man, Dr. Spencer Reid, who only nodded towards us.  
“Hello Agent,” Yates said, his goofy smile still on.  
“We’ll drive you to the station if you’d like, or is there anywhere else you’d like to go?” I asked the man, having to look up at him from our height difference. He was almost a full foot taller than me, my head barely rising above his shoulders.  
“Agent Prentiss and Morgan will observe the burial site, Dr. Reid and Rossi will observe the bodies and JJ and I will go to the station to meet with the Sheriff.”  
“Alright Yates, you heard him, take those two to the site,” I told the officer, and he led them to his patrol car.  
“The four of you will have to come with me, and I’ll drop off you two at the morgue. Our rental cars for you will be there by the time you’re done with your examination of the bodies.”  
They all agreed and started towards my hummer. Dark-haired Agent Hotchner sat next to me in the front and I could feel the aura of authority around him. They all seemed to respect him as a leader. If only some of my officers felt the same way about me.  
Once we all settled in the car, I started driving back to Leweys, ready to solve the case of my long-lost friend.  
“I’d hate to disappoint you, Agent Hotchner- “  
“Please, call me Hotch,” he asked, turning to me.  
“Alright, Hotch, I know it wasn’t clear when we sent the case over to you since the Sheriff had to request it himself, but I am in charge of this case, not him.”  
“That wasn’t mentioned.”  
“Nope. He dumped it on me. Don’t tell him this, but I think he’s getting old. Two years away from retiring in fact. I’m his Deputy, but some of these days I feel more like his Sheriff-in-Training.”  
“You mentioned that this body was connected to an old cold-case?” David Rossi spoke up from the back.  
“Yep.”  
“Well since he’s close to retirement, it isn’t unusual for him to not want to be involved in a cold case- trying to make it an easy transition out, I’d assume.”  
I sighed and continued to watch the road.  
“Do you all go by your last names?”  
“It’s usually the case,” the young Dr spoke up, “I do go by Spencer though. And you already heard JJ.” I saw his small smile in the back mirror, and I smiled back.  
“I’ll try and remember. If you want, you can call me Deputy, but everyone knows me as Lynn.”  
The rest of the ride was full of small updates on the case and me figuring out how much they already knew. Apparently, a four-hour plane ride was long enough for them to get well-acquainted with the case.  
I dropped the two off at the morgue, and called one of my officers, making sure the rentals were in fact on their way to the station. I didn’t want the team to have to rely on only our cars for transport. We didn’t have the usual FBI standard SUVs.  
We arrived at the station five minutes later, as it was a short drive between many locations in Leweys, except, of course, to and from the burial site. Already there was a small group of reporters, most from surrounding cities, who had probably heard of the bodies and the FBI arriving.  
I parked and they spotted us and started making their way over. I recognized one local journalist. We all exited the vehicle.  
“Don’t give them anything. JJ’s our Media Liaison, she knows how to handle it,” Hotch whispered to me, noticing me tense up seeing the small group of journalists approaching us, hungry for stories.  
I had already experienced my share of nosy reporters, wanting the juicy details of Daniel’s murder way back when. Finding out two of your childhood friends were gone and then being crowded and pressured into interviews? It left a mark on me, and the thought of being crowded again wasn’t a calming thought.  
I had planned on leading him into the sanctuary of my police department, but it felt like it was the other way around now. We entered and closed the door behind us, leaving JJ for the wolves.  
Hotch noticed me looking back towards JJ outside, and kept leading me inwards, “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”  
We finally made it into the conference room and JJ soon joined us.  
“This is everything you have?” He looked up at the board, and the empty white showing through made me wanted to shrink under the table. He looked at me, waiting for my answer. He had dark eyelashes.  
“Yes.” I held my breath.  
“I think it’s rather good, considering how little you had to work with concerning the cold case.” He sat down next to me, opening a folder and looked at the pictures of the bodies.  
“Victim number 2 is the younger one. Do we have an identity yet?”  
“Y-yes.” I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry, “Jennifer Kable, disappeared and died age 19, eighteen years ago.”  
“Was she from Lewisville?” JJ asked.  
“We went to High School together. She was with me and a few others before for two whole days, just before her disappearance.”  
“Lynn, you have to tell me now that you aren’t compromised in this case,” Hotch spoke up. He didn’t sound accusing. He looked at me as if he understood and his voice was soft and gave me time to answer.  
“It won’t be a problem,” I answered, staring back into his brown eyes.  
Satisfied with how I carried myself, he moved on to the next topic, on trying to figure out the victimology. Luckily, Prentiss and Morgan returned after observing the crime scene, and they were able to discuss it together. I didn’t have any background in criminal psychology, so I decided to listen and take notes.  
The rest of the team arrived shortly after, Spencer and Rossi filling us in on what else they had learned from the coroners, from Jennifer as well as the older victim.  
“There isn’t a lot to work with concerning the first victim except for the time range in which she was killed, and that she was killed in the same manner as the newer one. It was definitely the same Unsub. It’s going to be hard to figure out the identity though since the dental area was actually damaged, most likely postmortem to obscure any traces to find out who she was.”  
“That’s odd,” I spoke up, and they all turned to me.  
“What is it?” Prentiss asked.  
“I’m guessing you both saw it already,” I looked at Spencer and Rossi, “We were able to discover Jennifer’s identity through dental work. Why destroy the first victim’s and not hers?”  
“Maybe they knew the first victim more personally, so getting rid of the identity would better hide the Unsub,” Spencer answered, making perfect sense.  
“Still, why not make Jennifer unidentifiable? Why not take that precaution?”  
“People already know about Jennifer’s disappearance, right?” JJ asked.  
“It’s the local urban legend. People assumed she had killed Daniel like some twisted love story and then ran away.”  
“Maybe,” Spencer speculated, “the unsub knew this and wanted her to be identified. To solve the mystery.”  
Hotch spoke up, his voice grave. “If that’s true, then he must have followed the case somehow. Not much press was released about it when Daniel was killed. We should assume that the Unsub is either a local or from surrounding areas, where he’s still able to keep tabs on it and where it would be easy for him to hear that she had been discovered. He could still be in town after all these years.”


	4. Deer and Tail Lights

“-He could still be in town after all these years.” Hotch finished his statement and the members of the team all looked towards me, waiting for my response.  
To think that the unsub had stayed close by all this time? Disconcerting to say the least. .  
“I guess that’s a possibility.”  
“Well that’s a first,” Rossi spoke up.  
“What is?”  
Spencer interjected with his quick words.  
“That you aren’t defending the town or people you know. Usually, in cases like this, we almost always have someone say that it isn’t possible for any of the people there to commit such a crime.”  
“This isn’t your normal small town. At least, not to me. If people move here or life ends up spitting them up here, this is where they’ll stay. We get enough tourists during the summer and winters to stay afloat, but people who want to get away from the larger cities usually retire in towns like Leweys. If the man who did this is possibly a local, then he is probably still here. You guys do think it is a man, right?”  
“We usually refer to the unsubs as he,” Prentiss stated. “Someone had to have been strong enough to carry those two bodies to the site.”  
“And subdue Daniel before shooting him,” I added.  
“True-“ Hotch added, and I could tell that once a team member would add a deduction, the gears in all of their brains would eat it up, adding more to their theories. “And since there hasn’t been any other bodies discovered and the supposed personal relationship with the first victim, he must have known Jennifer as well.”  
“It wouldn’t have been hard, small town remember?” I said.  
“Did you find anything else about the bodies?” Hotch turned to Spencer and Rossi.  
Rossi shifted his weight in his chair.  
“Whoever did this had to have had knowledge of hunting and preparing animals. The coroner said the methods used to open up the victims' bodies were similar to how one would cut open a deer- long cut up the body and disemboweled…” he paused and looked at me, “There is a difference between the bodies, minor, but important.  
“What is it?” We all asked.  
“The first victim has already gone through years of deterioration, only preserved luckily by the type of soil in the forest- the line was clean, and had to have been done with the victim either sedated or postmortem. Jennifer’s… was shaky, rough, and unsteady. Since he’s already done this before, it wasn’t hesitation that caused it.”  
“Oh my god,” Prentiss said, reflecting everyone’s thoughts.  
“She- was awake when it happened,” My voice wavered out.  
My worst fears concerning Jennifer were confirmed to be true. She went through the worst pain possible and all these years her body was buried in the woods, under the town’s nose.  
“I need some air, please- excuse me-“ I stood, lightheaded and walked out of the room rather ungracefully.  
All the pent-up disgust at the burial site and the trauma of her disappearance and death finally overloaded and I ran to the restroom in the station, releasing my earlier light lunch.  
I stopped vomiting, but I still sat at the toilet, my throat burning and eyes tearing up. I barely heard the small knock at the door.  
“Lynn?” JJ’s voice softly called out.  
I didn’t bother telling her to go away.  
She entered the two-stalled bathroom and opened the door to the larger stall, seeing my on the tiled-floor, crying.  
Images of the bodies resurfaced in my mind and I went up to vomit again, this time JJ holding my ponytail and rubbing my back.  
“I’m s-sorry,” I said in between my sobs. I was the graduate all over again after Daniel’s funeral.  
“Don’t be. You’ve been so brave during the investigation, considering the fact that you knew Jennifer,” she stopped rubbing my back and held onto my arm as I leaned against the wall.  
“I didn’t just know her. She was my best friend the lost two years of high school. Before her I never really had anyone. She introduced me to my ex-husband senior year.” I wiped my mouth and sighed, suddenly extremely tired.  
“And no one saved her.” I covered my face in my hands, my cheeks burning of embarrassment, “I’m sorry.”  
Here I was in the bathroom, throwing up like college girl after too many drinks and a real-deal FBI agent was next to me.  
“It’s not your fault. We don’t know when these things are going to happen.”  
I smiled at her, her blue eyes comforting, and I felt like a child.  
“Please don’t tell your team about this. I know I can help with this case. I need to.”  
“It’s alright Lynn. I won’t.”  
We both walked out of the restroom and entered the conference room together. I knew my puffy eyes would tell them I had been crying and who knows what else- I always felt they were profiling me.  
They didn’t ask me if I was ok, but every time I looked back down at the files. I could feel Agent Hotchner’s eyes from his seat next to me.  
We returned to the case, relating the victims to how Daniel was found, concluding that Jenifer must have been taken at the lake, explaining why Daniel might have struggled against the Unsub.  
The evening quickly swallowed us up and we decided to call it a night in order to work efficiently the next day. Even if they claimed not to have it, I could tell some of the agents had slight jetlag after having to travel back in time a few hours.  
I gave them the keys to the rental cars and directions to the lodge at the north side of Leweys where they would be staying. And with that, we all parted ways, and I headed to my house. We had large neighborhoods here, not with green front lawns or suburban houses- we had front lawns and backyard full of the woods. Winding roads connected our town, and everyone had a rifle or two to deal with the wildlife that often found its way to our doors.  
I entered my small house, one I managed to buy after my divorce with Kevin. He lived two miles away from me, but in these mountain woods, it felt like a small trip every time I went to see Paul.  
I smiled thinking of my growing boy. Though Kevin had custody after the divorce, where my law enforcement job was too risky and straining to care for him alone, I visited him often and had him over every other week or so. He was lucky that Kevin and I weren’t at each other’s throats.  
With memories of Paul growing up in my mind to block out the earlier day’s gruesome details, I went to sleep, knowing that I would have to emerge myself once again in the grisly case with the BAU the next day.

My dreams of dinosaur toys and guns were shattered apart as I heard my living room window break. I stumbled out of bed, grabbed the rifle under the mattress and flicked on the lights. A car screeched out front and before I flung my door open, it had vanished, only faint tail lights fading from my view. Too tired to even think of jumping into my car to follow in pursuit, I looked at the floor where the glass was shattered. Unknowingly, I had stepped through the glass on my route to the door and my feet were stained with a thin layer of blood.  
“Shit,” I sighed, and I hobbled to my bathroom to clean myself up.  
Ten minutes later after my feet were cleaned and covered in band-aids, I went back to clean the glass and noticed what had broken my window in the first place, lying faceup on my floor.  
It was a large rock with a paper note taped all around it to make sure I would get the typed message. 

"You found Jenny. Congratulations."


	5. Wake Up Call

The rest of my night was full of the forensic workers taking pictures of my living room, the broken window and of the tire tracks outside my house, trying to learn something about the make of the car that had raced away last night. I mentally kicked myself for not thinking clearly enough to make out the car, driver, or anything that would help me recognize it.  
I decided not to call the visiting FBI agents about it. It still was early in the morning, and they needed their rest to work on the rest of the case. The case that I was personally connected with now, and the unsub, or whatever they called the suspect, somehow knew where I lived- not a comforting thought.  
My phone rang and I looked at the screen. Why was Kevin calling me this early? I opened his call, worry already seeping into my mind.  
“Kevin? Is something wrong? It’s 4 am-”  
“I know, but something’s happened hasn’t it?”  
I paused; “-how do you know?”  
“Someone just ditched my door after dropping a package on the steps. They rang the doorbell like five times, waking up Paul too.”  
“Please tell me you didn’t open it?”  
“Was I not supposed to?”  
I sighed and shook my head.  
“What was it?”  
“A note.”  
I looked at the rock still laying on my floor, the note still taped to it.  
“It said you found Jenny. Is she… alright?”  
Why would the unsub contact Kevin and I about it? I guessed I would have to wake up the team after all.  
“You have to tell me the exact wording.”  
“If just says They found Jenny.”  
“Kevin, can you please come to the station with the package and note? We need to examine it for prints. And bring Paul, I want to know that both of you are safe right now.”  
“Are you in the middle of something dangerous? What’s the note mean?”  
“Kevin, please, I’ll explain once you get there, ok?”  
After a long pause, he agreed then hung up, leaving me alone in the house. Needing air after the small scare Kevin’s call had given me, I went outside and sat on the steps to my door.  
I pushed the number for Agent Hotchner’s number on speed dial and waited for him to pick up.  
“Lynn…? Is everything ok?” His voice sounded tired as if my call had woken him up.  
“I’m sorry to call and wake you, but I think the unsub came to my house last night.”  
“What? How can you be sure?”  
“He threw a rock through my window with a note on it about Jenny. I haven’t told anyone about her, so it must’ve been him, right? He gave almost the same note to Kevin and he knows where we both live and-”  
“Lynn.” His voice stopped me, and only then did I notice I was rambling.  
“Are you and Kevin ok? He threw a rock in your window?” He sounded much more awake then.  
“Yeah, I’m fine. I told Kevin to meet me at the station just in case.”  
“Smart move. I still have to discuss it with my team on our way, but it sounds like the Unsub wants a confrontation or recognition of some kind, and it might not be safe to stay in your home. We’ll meet you at the station.”  
“Alright, see you there.”  
The call ended and I stood, going back to my room to pack a night bag just in case. The shaking in my hands had stopped after the call, and I couldn’t tell if it was either because of talking with Hotchner or the shock of the incident was wearing off.  
I drove to the station, the few officers there just ending their night shift.  
“I heard what happened, are you alright?” Officer Nash walked up to me, and I nodded, just imagining how tired I must have looked.  
“Here boss, fully caffeinated,” He handed me a coffee mug and I took it.  
“Thank you,” I smiled at him and he tipped his cap and walked away, knowing not to push it.  
As much as I didn’t like him, he still was a good officer and, dare I admit it, charming at times.  
Kevin arrived shortly after I did and I picked up Paul in my arms, kissing him on the cheek before he fell asleep again. I walked into my office and rested him on the couch, tucking him in with a blanket Kevin had brought.  
“Ah darn, I forgot to bring something for him to play with when he wakes up.” Kevin held his forehead, knowing what a tired grumpy three-year-old could do.  
“Don’t worry, I got him taken care of,” I smiled and pulled out one of the larger green dinosaur plushies from my house and set it next to the blonde-haired boy, then rested back in the seat at my desk.  
“You like tired,” Kevin sighed, leaning back on the other side of the couch, unshaved and most likely still wearing the shirt he went to bed in.  
“I could say the same thing about you,” I stated.  
“So, they’re checking that note I got for prints?”  
“Yeah, but they probably won’t find any. There weren’t any on mine.”  
I explained to him what had happened for me in the night.  
“You heard about the bodies we found right?”  
“It was hard not to. Was Jenny… one of ‘em?”  
I nodded and he leaned forward, cupping his face in his hands, a whole other level of weariness descending onto his shoulders. 

The BAU agents arrived but the sun had not. Agent Hotchner entered the building with the rest of his tired team and started towards Lynn’s office but stopped, seeing her talking with a man they haven’t met yet. Kevin, the ex-husband who had also been at the lake before the murders. He looked large and imposing from behind, but after Hotch opened the door to the office and saw his face, Kevin had the kind of softness JJ’s husband Will had to his face.  
They shook hands and Hotch glanced down at the boy on the couch, fast asleep and now holding onto the stuffed animal. A small smile went to his lips, immediately thinking about Jack.  
“Now that we’re all here, tell me about what happened last night.” It wasn’t a question, and Kevin went first in explaining the strange early morning delivery.  
Lynn went afterward, and Hotch tried asking her questions about whether she had seen a car outside her house or tailing her on the way home, but she couldn’t remember anything close to it.  
Hotch listened to her speak but saw the way she rubbed her fingers together nervously, strong hands yet probably soft still. He looked away suddenly, shaking the thought from his mind, not knowing why it had popped up in the first place.  
“What are you thinking Agent?”  
Kevin’s voice brought him back and he looked at the man, wondering if the other had sensed his mind wandering. He quickly recollected his thoughts, focusing back on the new developments of the case.  
“This unsub hasn’t made any contact to the news yet allowed law enforcement officials to learn the truth about the second victim’s identity, which means he may have known you both personally at one point.  
Do you know if any of the others who were in your group at the time were contacted at all?”  
Lynn shook her head, “No, I haven’t been contacted by anyone else. Is that… a good thing or…?”  
“Could you try and get into contact with them? Now that Jennifer was found, he may start to find another target. Do you know anyone who might be capable of doing this?”  
She scowled, and Hotchner cringed, realizing he had obviously hit a nerve.  
“No, I don’t. I was asked that question a million times during Daniel’s murder investigation. I don’t know who’s secretly a psychopath in this town or not.”  
“Alright, my team and I will continue to view the victimology and build a profile. I would suggest that you try and lay low, he may try to target you-”  
“No, I’m not stepping this one out. I’m going to catch this son of a bitch."  
“Lynn-” Kevin started to protest but she shot a glare at him, and Hotch stood, not wanting to be in the middle of whatever they were about to debate about.  
“Agent Hotchner?” Her voice stopped him, and he turned around.  
“I’ll be out in a few minutes to join your team.”  
He nodded and walked out, both to escape her wrath and to update his team on the details of the night.  
“So, is that her family?” Emily Prentiss asked him right after he exited Lynn’s office.  
“Yeah, it seems the unsub left a note at her ex-husband's house as well. I’m going to guess that means the unsub has more up his sleeve, and that he may try and contact others from Jennifer’s group at the lake from back in the day.”  
“Ex-husband?” She asked, watching Hotch’s face.  
“Yes,” he looked at her, neither one of them saying anything, but the silence she gave off revealed what was on her mind.  
“Let’s back to the profile, shall we?” He stated and started walking back to the conference room, feeling Prentiss’s scrutiny behind him. Why should it matter to him that Lynn had an ex-husband?


	6. An Old Woman's Intuition

“We should go check out some local hunting shops and try to figure out if there are any avid hunters who specialize in deer. It might not lead directly to the unsub, but they must have gotten the knowledge of gutting from somewhere,” Morgan suggested to the group. 

“I know there are some hunting clubs that formed in the town and the ones nearby,” Lynn added.

“Are we jumping on the hunter bandwagon too quickly though?” Rossi spoke up, his fingers scratching that black and white goatee of his. 

“What if it was just the method of torture and killing, instead of a result of hunting? I’m not so sure he’s a standard ‘hunter’ serial killer. It could just be a means to act out a certain fantasy or ritual he has the need to fulfill.”

“That does make some sense,” Lynn thought out loud, “If he relied on hunting for killing and finding victims, then why not kill Daniel in the same way? And we haven’t other bodies to suggest that he killed during specific seasons.”

“Waiting years between killing is rare but possible,” Hotch stated.

“How,” the deputy asked, and before anyone else could explain, Spencer’s quick voice answered.

“This unsub was able to wait before kills due to a behavior called self-initiated predation cessation. It where the unsub is able to control his need to kill his victims for a longer amount of time, which means that this unsub leans less on the psychotic path and more of that of a cold, organized killer. This unsub is patient and was able to lie dormant for years, from either self-control or more external forces like getting locked up or institutionalized. It could be that his knowledge of knowing the answer to the urban legend gave him the satisfaction he needed all these years, and once the bodies were found and exhumed, his killing urges were resumed, almost as if he experienced a trigger.”

His large exclamation took less than a minute, but everything Spencer said made sense to her. 

“We should still check out the local hunting guilds,” she sighed, “Morgan’s right in saying this unsub had to learn somewhere on how to gut a deer. I’ll get a list of the groups. They most likely won’t have their memberships or relations in computer’s that your tech friend could go through.”

Hotch stood and the other’s followed, splitting into pairs to investigate more of the hunting guilds at a time. There were two main ones in Lewey’s and one in the town nearby. Spencer and Morgan left first, followed by Prentiss and Rossi. JJ stayed at the police station to contact Garcia and Hotch looked at Lynn, not sure if Prentiss had volunteered to go with the old Italian on purpose.  
“I need to notify Jen’s mother.”

“Are sure that’s wise? You were set on keeping her identity a secret,” he asked, looking down at her. 

The deputy sighed, rubbing her forehead, and he could tell that the lack of sleep would hit her later in the day. 

“If this unsub is ready to let Kevin know about Jen, how am I to know it won’t leak it to the press himself. I don’t want to risk Carol to learn about Jen from the news. Or from a broken window.”

“Alright, we should head over there, it’s not too early anymore. We should also interview her one more time about Jen,” Hotch stated, and Lynn agreed. 

She grabbed her keys and they both exited the station, entering Lynn’s black hummer jeep. 

The car ride was mainly silent, and he watched her as she drove, both hands on the wheel, her gun in her belt and her long hair up in a ponytail. 

“How old is your son?” He suddenly asked as the trees and scenery around them no longer intrigued him. 

“Three. Four in three months. What about you?” 

“How do you know I have a kid?” He smiled slightly and she glanced at him, liking the way it looked.

“I just know. Maybe I profiled you.” 

He chuckled, “I have a son too. He’s six.”

“And seeing Paul reminded you of him?” She asked, her question more of a statement confirming her deductions.

“Yes.”

“Is it hard?” 

“What?” Hotch looked at her. She may have good intuition, but was she talking about Haley being gone or…

“Leaving him every time you work a case?” She finished. 

“I’ll have to admit, it is. Sometimes it’s hard for him to understand, but once he gets a little older, he will.”

“I can’t imagine what would happen if Paul suddenly disappeared from my life like Jennifer. Not knowing what happened.” She sighed and stopped the car, Hotchner realizing only then that they had arrived at Carol’s house, an old widow who had lost everything eighteen years ago. 

“Are you ready?” Hotchner asked, watching her tense up as they walked towards the door. 

“I’m never ready for this part.”

With a heavy hand, Lynn knocked on the peeling blue door and it creaked open, an old woman opening it. 

“Lynn, what a treat to see you. And you brought a G-man.”

Her words surprised Hotchner and Lynn laughed. 

“Good to see you, Carol. Can we come in?”

“Come on in, I can’t have you standing out in this cold mountain air all morning, can I?” 

She beckoned them inside, and they made their way into a homey living room, the fireplace lit and a cat scampering off out of sight once the strangers sat down. 

She watched the two sit down, her frail hands resting gently in her lap. 

“You’re here about my Jennifer, aren’t you.”

Her words caught Lynn by surprise and the blonde deputy leaned forward. 

“You already knew?” She cried out.

“I had my suspicions when the town found out about the bodies. Seeing you drive up to my house confirmed my fears,” her voice was soft, laced with longing and a hint of regret. 

“I’m so sorry Carol,” Lynn started, but the woman waved her hand, stopping her.

“It wasn’t your fault honey. I had a feeling long ago that my daughter had left this world and didn’t just skip town on Lewey’s. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Mrs. Kable,” Hotch spoke up, “do you know of any missing persons from before the incident after the lake? Anyone from the town during your adulthood?”

“Not from Lewey’s, no. I do remember a tourist going missing though. A woman was lost in the woods during the wintertime. After a time, the town assumed she died in the cold or from a skiing accident, and it renewed an effort to make winter activities safer in the town. Does that help?” 

“Thank you for the information Mrs. Kable-“

“You don’t know who that other poor soul was, don’t you?”

Lynn stood up and kissed the old woman on the cheek.

“We can’t say anything else about the case Carol, but yes, we do have an unidentified victim.”

“I know you’ll catch whoever did this,” she gripped Lynn’s arm, her eyes determined. 

“Time to look for more leads?” Lynn turned to Hotch and he stood, nodding.

Lynn walked out of the room and towards the door, leaving the old woman grieving by the fireplace.

“I’m sorry about your loss,” Hotchner spoke softly and turned to leave, but the old woman gripped his arm as he passed her.

“You better watch after that one.”

“Is there something worrying you, Mrs. Kable?”

“I always felt like something terrible has been hovering over that girl’s shoulders,” she paused, then looked him straight in the eye. 

“My daughter’s killer attacked two that night at the lake, and now you’ve found two bodies together. Why choose my Jen and David and not Lynn and Kevin? Or that other couple the night? What if he never finished, Agent? She’s all I got for family.”  
“Lynn is a smart woman and seems to handle herself well in this case. We all watch each other’s backs,” He answered, not wanting to share with the old woman how he had already started to feel worried about the deputy’s involvement in the case. But they needed her insight into the town and victims. 

A small glint showed in her eye, and the old woman let him go. 

“I know,” she looked back into the fireplace and he let himself out, his mind going over the old woman’s premonitions about the unsub’s plans remaining unfinished. 

If they were true, added with the taunts from the earlier night, what could this psychopath’s endgame be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note, I honestly forgot the timeline from where JJ began to be a profiler (and her relationship with Will) along with George Foyet's interactions with Hotch's family, as well as Prentiss still being a member of the team. Please just assume that this is where JJ is with Will already, but still the media liaison, Hotch already took care of the reaper and Emily is in the team. Please forgive any inconsistencies of the team's timeline with the actual canon timeline, thank you!  
> (Also looking back, I realize I switched from 1st Pov to 3rd, but its too late to change that now, oh well!)


	7. Prey

They reached the community center, one more popular hunting group to evaluate. Exiting the car, they both walked into the older brick building. Taxidermized animals lined the walls and in corners next to decorative house plants. 

Lynn knew where the hunting group met. It was a room near the back. She had been there once with her father, back when the center was more popular. Now it was where all the elderly gathered. 

They passed a few doors leading to bingo rooms and one room had a circle of old women quilting. 

Finally, they reached the large double doors to the hunting room. She opened it, revealing a room with plush leather chairs, a bar, and seemingly more animals than the rest of the building. Photos, old and new, lined the walls, from hunting seasons in the 40’s to the present day. 

A few men were gathered here and there in the room, each talking and laughing, and drinking shots of whiskey. 

“Lynn, what are you doing here?” A huffing joyful voice boomed begins them and she spun around. 

“Uncle Mike!” She walked to him and the old man wrapped his arms around her in a giant hug. 

He had a thick silver beard and deep laugh lines and wrinkles near his wet blue eyes. His lips curled in a smiled underneath the layer of hair and his baseball cap was skewed after the embrace.  
She let go and turned to Hotchner, still beaming, until she saw his amused gaze, and she brushed her uniform off and straightened her posture, quickly turning away, pink rushing to her cheeks. 

“Agent Hotchner, this is Mike Gorslow,” she gestured to the man who shook Hotch’s hand in a tight grip.

“I’m sorry, Mike, but I can’t stay and catch up. I didn’t even know you were back in town!”

“I had some business to take care of at the lodge and in the group, I didn’t know you would show up,” he glanced at agent Hotchner, “are you on a case right now?”

“Yes, I am,” she paused. “You were here back when I was in high school right? And before when the hiker got lost in the woods right?”

“I was part of the search party. My friends and I know the woods better than anyone else in town.”

“Is it all right if we ask you some questions from back then? We need all the information we can get.”

The old man looked at Hotch again and smiled, shrugging. 

“Anything for my Lynn.”

“Is there a room for a more private conversation?” 

“Sure, follow me,” he started walking down the hallway, the two investigators in tow. 

“Are you sure he’ll be able to help?” Hotch asked as they followed the man.

“He used to be the leader of the group back in the day. If anyone has information from back then it has to be him.”

They stopped in a room that was off to the side in a smaller hallway. The lights were covered in dust and boxes of files and framed pictures lined the walls.  
Lynn fingered through some of the items, looking at old photographs that consisted of rugged mountain men, park officers, and occasionally local hunters. Mike was in almost every photo. 

“How would you hunt and prepare a deer?” Hotch asked after they sat down. 

“Are you interested in hunting, agent?” Mike asked. 

“I’m not a huge fan. Lewisville seems to be hub for the trade.”

“We are. Lewey’s is a small town but we have trails and cabins that just don’t have the same isolation as like other parts of the state.”

“And what’s the most popular animal that people hunt here?”

“Usually people try to find elk. We have a few different types here. Once in a while someone will run into a cougar and back in the day, the bears were the prime pelt to collect. And to answer your question, deer or elk are prepared the same way. Gut them first then you can take the parts you want- antlers, head, or full body for taxidermy.”

“Would hunters normally do that in the woods?” Lynn spoke up. 

Mike shook his head. 

“It’s always better to take ‘em back to a gutting shed. To prepare the body. Out in the woods, you don’t want to take too much time on one animal. Bears and other predators are attracted to the blood, plus hygiene problems with all the fluids. However, the elk is too big to carry, then a hunter will have to gut it and prepare it in the woods, then take it back alone.”

“Can you name anyone who would choose to do this in the woods? Or anyone adept at it?”

“Most try to avoid it in the woods. I’ve done it a few times after special catches, and one group in particular taught survival classes back in the day. The names escape me though- some of these boxes might help, with all the records and photos and all…”

“Thank you, Mike,” She stood and led him out as Hotch went to get permission to look through all the boxes. 

The leader of the center was more than willing to grant them access to the old archived boxes, and the team soon arrived to collect them, two boxes in each agent’s arms. 

“The other lodges were bust,” Rossi grumbled, “those groups formed after the murders and some don’t even teach or hunt for bigger game.”

“We know that the unsub is still in Lewisville,” Reid said as he hoisted up a box of photos and record books, “but it seems like he disappeared after the second and third murders.”

“Something must have happened to him in that time,” Emily stated. 

Morgan held the doors out of the room for everyone.

“Garcia already checked prisons and institutions. No one was put in or released corresponding to the timeline.”

Lynn was the last to exit the room, “What if something different happened? Like, medical problems or they got a new job- a family even?”

“A new job or family could be a reason, and it seems this unsub could have the organization to hold a job or keep his secrets separate from his personal life,” Morgan walked by her side. “But that’s just too wide a suspect pool to evaluate.”

“How about those who- who…” Lynn trailed off as she noticed a woman standing in front of a large elk in the entry room.

“Lynn, what’s wrong?” Morgan stopped with her, following her gaze.

“Could you take my box to the car? I have to speak- speak with someone…” She handed her ox of files over to him before he had a chance to answer and started walking to the woman.

“Alright, I’ll send someone back to you,” he reluctantly walked off, glancing back one more time.

Lynn slowly approached the woman, just noticing the man she was talking to. 

“Susan?” Her voice wavered out. 

The brown-haired woman turned around and smiled after she recognized the deputy.

“Lynn! I knew you’d be here,” Susan pulled the shorter woman into her embrace and rested her head on her shoulder.

“What are you both doing here?” Lynn pulled away and asked the couple, recognizing the man as John, Susan’s husband. 

“We got your letter. You wanted us here since you found Jenny… and the funeral?” Susan held Lynn’s shoulders, her voiced laced with sadness. 

Hotchner walked back in after Morgan told him Lynn stayed behind. The rest of the team had already left to start evaluating the records that hadn’t been uploaded online. 

“Lynn, is everything ok?”

Susan looked at him, a glint in her eyes and back at Lynn, waiting for introductions. 

Lynn broke out of her haze, snapping towards him. 

“Was he here? The Unsub?’ She started looking around in a panic, the thought of being watched etched into her mind.

“Lynn!” He stopped her, grabbing onto her shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

“How did he know we would be here?” She turned back to the couple, “You’re not supposed to be here…”

“Who are you?” Hotch turned to Susan and John, confused at Lynn’s reaction. Nothing he could remember from that day pointed toward the unsub following them.

“I’m Susan and this is John, my husband. We’re here because of Jenny. Who are you?”

It finally clicked in his mind and he pulled out his badge, suddenly feeling like they should get out of the open.

“I’m SSA Hotchner of the FBI. You need to come with us right now.”

“Why?” John finally spoke up, slightly annoyed.

Lynn finally calmed down, her voice slow, “Because, you both are in danger.”


	8. Into Fruition

They arrived at the Station after a long, uncomfortably silent car ride, the uneasy married couple in the back, Hotchner driving, and Lynn staring out the window, trying to figure out how the unsub could have gotten Sue back to Leweys.   
Entering the station, Lynn led them to the Sheriff, leaving the couple with Kevin and Paul. Sheriff Hoplar explained their situation and Lynn watched their reactions through the window from across the room.   
A sinking feeling entered her stomach. She was failing her town and her friends. Even her family. The longer they couldn’t find the unsub, the more time the murderer had in order to plan and complete his wicked game. From the years he spent possibly waiting for the bodies to be discovered, he must already have some kind of plan.   
To make it worse, it seemed like they hit a roadblock within the investigation- which was not totally uncommon to have in cold cases, but disappointing nonetheless since the BAU wanted to catch unsubs as soon as possible.   
The mail service had no idea on how the fake letters under Lynn’s name had been sent out, and Garcia had checked for any suspicious behavior in the estimated send-out days, but nothing popped up.   
They searched box after box of records and managed to empty almost each and everyone- only a small stack of four boxes leaned against the wall. Lynn’s head pounded from all the musty smells of old paper and dusty photos and she decided to take a break.  
She walked out to grab some coffee until she noticed Susan at her desk with Paul in her seat, laughing with him.   
Lynn slowly approached the boy from behind and grabbed him and twirled him up, surprising him and making him scream and giggle. He latched onto her neck and she held him there, sitting into her chair next to Susan.   
“He’s a beautiful boy,” Susan stated, her voice sweet as she smiled at the child.   
“I know, he took it after me,” Lynn chuckled and rubbed his back, knowing the little ball of energy was crashing into sleep.   
“Don’t tell Kevin that.”   
They both laughed and trailed off. Lynn would have been ecstatic to see Susan again, but under these circumstances, it was hard to dwell on normal conversation topics.   
“We tried having kids, but it just didn’t work out.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Thanks, but we are both all right. Can you keep a secret, Deputy Lynn?” She asked teasingly.  
“You know me,” she answered.   
“I think we should adopt a kid or two. I haven’t told him my thoughts yet…”  
Lynn reached out and held her hand, “That’s a wonderful idea.”  
After the incidents with Daniel and Jenny, Susan and Lynn had grown closer than before, trying to close the gap of their two missing friends. Even after Susan moved out of state and got married to John Ford, they never stayed out of reach.  
Paul fell limp in her arms and his breath on her neck signaled her that it was bedtime. She glanced at the clock, discovering it was time for her to sleep as well.   
She stood up from her desk and entered Hoplar’s office, handing Paul over to Kevin before returning to the investigation room. Only three boxes remained, and the young Spencer Reid would have stayed to finish them if Morgan hadn’t nudged the young man, as everyone else was gathering their coats and things to take back to the lodge.   
From all the activity and the wait to solve Daniel’s murder, Lynn could have stayed up all night, but they all knew they needed clear heads to finish the investigation. Sleep deprivation would not help them find the unsub.   
Kevin held Paul in his arms, his backpack of clothes on his back. He looked down at Lynn, remembering how he used to love the short woman. It had been his choice to divorce and though they were on good terms, he couldn’t help but feel that it would be harder for her to move on with their lives.   
“We’re not going back home tonight, are we?”  
“You guessed right. We are all staying at the lodge tonight. I can’t risk us going home after the window incident.”  
“Do you really think we’re in danger?”  
Lynn’s mind wandered to Sue and John, and the fake letter they had received, luring them back to Leweys. They were definitely in danger.   
“We can’t be sure of anything right now,” she lied, not wanting to worry him. They’d be protected at the lodge.   
“Deputy!” Sheriff Hoplar called out to her before they exited the station and he finally caught up to her.   
“Yes, Sheriff?” She turned to him, only to see two officers with him.   
“You and your friends will be under our protective custody tonight. Nash will guard you and Kevin and Yates will be in charge of the Fords. I don’t want anything going down tonight, got it?” He stated the question like an order, making her waver.   
Was he expecting her to stay on guard through the night as well?  
“Yes, sir.” She answered, not wanting to delve into it, and not entirely sure of what his expectations for her were. 

They arrived at the lodge and they all went into their rooms, the agents on the same floor as Lynn and Kevin, but Susan in the floor above. Tourists had already been filling up lodges throughout mountain towns, getting ready for the new hunting season.   
Darkness filled the room after Kevin turned the light off and Lynn rested her head on one pillow, holding the other in her arms. Kevin started snoring quietly and she smiled, remembering the nights she had to get used to the sound in order to sleep.   
She thought that rooming with Kevin would have been awkward, as her bed was only a foot or two away from his, but perhaps she was too tired to think about him or the old feelings that hadn’t stirred up within her heart. She had never been lucky with her relationships or dating, as Kevin had been her high school sweetheart and longest partner not in the force. It was finding someone new to date when you already knew almost everybody in town.   
Even though it had only been a year and a half since the divorce, it was easy for her to let go of the feelings she had for him. He was the one who ended it anyways. She still loved him, but only as the father to her son and as an old friend. Perhaps the small thought of a certain tall, dark-haired agent made it easier to think of starting over.   
She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to dispel her thoughts. She hadn’t just thought of Agent Hotchner, had she?  
Yet now that she had named him in her thoughts, she knew it was true. All the subtle things he did, how he had an air of leadership and strength, and his voice- soft yet authoritative- made her realize the growing feelings she had for him.   
She shook her head once again, trying to refuse the growing feelings inside- she needed to focus on the case, or go to sleep. Besides, once it was over and they caught the unsub, he would leave. Nothing would happen between them and he and his team would literally fly away, permanently gone from her life. Or, at least, she kept telling herself that. No need for hopeful thoughts.   
Once the topic changed in her mind from this frivolous nature, she tried once again to go to sleep. She closed her eyes, adjusted her pillow, focused on Paul’s breathing and the constant snores of Kevin, but nothing helped. Besides the other inhabitants of the room, nothing else seemed to stir in the lodge.   
The silence lit up her nerves and instead of it lulling her to sleep, it was deafening and heavy.   
Quietly, she swung herself off the bed and put her holster on with her handgun in tow. Better safe than sorry. She tied her boots and didn’t bother trying to change out of her sweats and baggy shirt. It was time she checked up on Susan and John, the Sheriff’s order popping back into her brain.   
Opening the door, she walked into the hallway and Officer Nash stood from where he had been guarding their door.   
“What are you doing up?” He whispered.  
“I couldn’t sleep. What room is the Susan in?”  
“Room 26… why?”  
“I wanted to go check on them.”  
“You shouldn’t wander around here at night, Yates and I are here for a reason. Here, I’ll radio over to him now.”  
He detached the radio from his shoulder and signaled to Yates.  
“Nash checking in, over.”  
Static answered. They waited a few seconds, but panic had started to creep into her mind.  
“Yates, this ain’t funny, check in, over.”  
Still silence.  
“When did you last check in?” Lynn questioned.  
“Just ten minutes ago-”  
“I’m going to him, alright?” She asked him, but it was more like a statement and nothing he could do would change her mind.   
“I’ll go with you-” He started to draw his weapon, but she stopped him, grabbing his arm.  
“You need to stay here. If anything happened, then it means the unsub is here.”  
“But Yates…”  
“I’ll check on him. Please guard Paul and Kevin- that’s my whole life in that room, got it?”  
His gaze rested on her, softening, and he straightened up.  
“Yes, mam.”  
“Good.”  
Without another word, she drew her own pistol and entered the staircase at the end of the hallway, the golden lights of the stairwell bright despite the night hours.   
She entered the second floor, cursing that Susan and her husband had been so far away from her room and the team. Maybe they should have stayed overnight at the station…  
Rounding the corner, she scanned the area, her eyes resting on Officer Yates, slumped to the ground and the door to the room open.   
He suddenly moved once he heard her footsteps, panic in his eyes until he realized it was just the deputy, coming to the rescue.   
She ran to his side and dropped to his level to assess his injuries. A bullet hole in his side bled slowly but steadily and she helped apply pressure.   
“He- he shot me- ugh-“ he stammered, his left hand trying to cover the wound in his side, blood staining his uniform. He had a bleeding cut on his forehead, and she couldn’t tell which wound was first. The unsub must have fought to keep the officer down.   
“We should have heard-”  
“It was muzzled. He took John and killed the woman… hurry…” His eyelids drooped, but she tapped his face, trying to keep him awake.   
“I can’t leave you,” she started, but she knew the unsub could be escaping into the woods or the lodge that very moment.   
“He smashed my radio and took my phone, just get the agents and go after him, just call an ambulance and I’ll be fine- I think that son of a bitch went back down.”  
Her hold on his wound lessened.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Go!” He winced as he pushed her away.  
She stood and quickly checked the empty room, and Yates had been right. Susan's body lay dead on the floor, shot in the head, just like Daniel. There was no sign of John either.  
She raced past Yates and down to her level again, dialing 911 on her way, requesting an immediate ambulance to the lodge. She ran past Nash, yelling at him to stay at his post, no matter what. The Unsub had started his final moves.   
Her fist pounded on Agent Hotchner’s door and it opened quickly. The tall agent dropped his gun seeing the disheveled deputy at his door, looking her up and down.   
“Lynn- are you bleeding? What’s wrong?” His voice was laced with worry.  
“There’s no time, Yates was attacked, I called an ambulance- the unsub was here and Susan’s dead and John’s missing and…” she tried catching her breath, and then moved to the next door to awaken the rest of the team, only for the door to open before her hand hit the wood.   
Morgan stepped out with Dr. Reid in tow.   
“We heard you, let’s go.”  
With the rest of the team fully awake, they all split up into pairs, searching the rooms in the lodge, hallways, and finally searching outside around the building. Lynn walked by Hotchner’s side and noticed a door leading to the back of the building near the trash bins.   
“He could have gone straight to this door from stairwell- that way Nash wouldn’t have seen him,” she stated, and Hotch nodded.   
They stepped out into the freezing autumn air and rounded the corner of the building, a large wall of woods facing them. Pools of blood were scattered in front of a hiker trail, leading into the forest.   
She started towards it, but Hotch grabbed her arm, holding her back.  
“It could be a trap, Lynn.”  
“It could be John, bleeding to death,” she stared up at him, determined.   
He looked out again at the wall of forest. It could be an ambush. The Unsub could have made the trail to lure Lynn, or anyone for that matter, into his hands.   
Wood crackled to their right and he drew up his pistol, but the brush blocked whatever made the first noise.  
“FBI, reveal yourself!” Hotch yelled out, but more wood started cracking under heavy footsteps, running away.  
“Lynn follow the trail!”  
“Wait-”  
“Now!” He didn’t look back at her as he ran to chase the suspect into the woods, leaving her to follow the trail of blood.


End file.
